Saturday, July 15, 2017

Religion and Progressive Politics

By Rudy Barnes, Jr.

Religion
and progressive politics have long been considered incompatible. Secular politics consider that “man has a
changeable nature and is thus able to achieve perfection.” Religion considers “man flawed and incapable
of perfecting himself without the help of God.”
The two views polarize our politics. The former supports the idea that
government can perfect humanity, while the latter is skeptical of big
government and more congenial to religious values.

To
further complicate matters, religions resist progressive change to preserve the
sanctity of their ancient scriptures, none of which mention democracy or
individual rights. Even so, the
Enlightenment of the 18th century transformed politics and religion in
the Western world with advances in knowledge, reason and the libertarian values
of democracy and human rights. Since
then the American civil religion has provided common political values for religions
in America.

Robert
N Bellah has described the American civil religion as “a collection of beliefs,
symbols, and rituals,” drawn from American history that expresses national
values and standards of political legitimacy.
It is grounded in the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness and loyalty to the U.S. Constitution, and includes those values
expressed in the Pledge of Allegiance
and in the lyrics of America the
Beautiful.

Thomas
Jefferson is a major prophet of the American civil religion. He had little use for the church, but
considered the moral teachings of Jesus as “the sublimest morality that has
ever been taught.” Those teachings are
summarized in the greatest commandment
to love God and to love our neighbors—including neighbors of other races and
religions—as we love ourselves; and that love command is a common word of faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.

The
increasing diversity of religion and race in America requires the altruistic
values of the American religion and the
greatest commandment to sustain progressive politics. The greatest challenge of democracy is to balance
individual rights with providing for the common good, and that requires an American
civil religion that is grounded in the altruistic values of the greatest commandment—andDonald Trump represents the antithesis
of altruistic values.

The
election of Donald Trump was the most regressive political event in America since
the Civil War. It was made possible by white
evangelical Christians who were motivated by Trump’s Make America Great Again campaign theme—one that recalled a mythical
past that was perhaps a utopia for many older white Americans, but not for most
black Americans. The Trump campaign was
rude and crude, and had distinctly racial overtones

Trump’s
election will likely be a historical anomaly.
White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPS) have long been a dominant force in
American politics, but the election of Donald Trump was likely their last Hurrah. Demographic projections show WASPS becoming a
political minority within 20 years, with white births already a minority of
births in America. But even without a
white majority, political polarization will continue to plague American politics.

History
has shown that humankind can be improved through enlightened democratic
governance, even if it cannot produce perfection. And there is no evidence that humankind can
achieve perfection through the Christian religion. For religion and progressive politics to be compatible
and promote political reconciliation, the altruistic values of the American civil
religion and the greatest commandment
must prevail over narrow religious and political values.

Notes:

In 1967 Robert N. Bellah defined [American]
civil religion as “a collection of beliefs, symbols, and rituals,” drawn from
American history and “institutionalized in a collectivity” that function “not
as a form of national self-worship but as the subordination of the nation to
ethical principles that transcend it in terms of which it should be judged.” On how
Trump is reshaping American civil religion, see https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2017/07/11/trump-reshaping-american-civil-religion/.

Thomas Jefferson wrote Henry Fry
on June 17, 1804: "I consider the doctrines of Jesus as delivered by
himself to contain the outlines of the sublimest morality that has ever been
taught; but I hold in the utmost profound detestation and execration the
corruptions of it which have been invested by priestcraft and kingcraft,
constituting a conspiracy of church and state against the civil and religious
liberties of man." Thomas
Jefferson, The Jefferson Bible, edited by O. I. A. Roche, Clarkson H.
Potter, Inc., New York, 1964, at p 378; see also Jefferson’s letter to John
Adams dated October 13, 1813, at pp 825, 826; Jefferson's commentaries are at
pp 325-379. See also, Introduction to The
Teachings of Jesus and Muhammad on Morality and Law: The Heart of Legitimacy,
at page 10, note 2, posted at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3gvZV8mXUp-aTJubVlISnpQc1U/view.

As
a young man, Jefferson embraced the tenets of “natural religion,” or deism,
rejecting conventional Christianity and any use of religious dogma as a tool to
control people. As he aged, however, Jefferson undertook a spiritual quest that
focused his attention intensively on the New Testament.

Through
Bible study this self-professed “primitive Christian” sought to hear Jesus’
original, uncorrupted voice, imagining himself in his teacher’s presence. Jesus
preached to the “family of man,” anticipating the humane and cosmopolitan
precepts of the enlightened age that Jefferson was convinced would inevitably
arrive. He adhered to the “philosophy” of Jesus while rejecting “mystifications”
that offended his steadfast belief in science and were, in his view, the chief
cause of religious strife.

Jefferson…insisted
that his religious faith was nobody’s business but his own. But he believed
that religion, stripped of the supernatural, should always be an integral part
of American society. He even created a guidebook, of sorts.

In
1804, Jefferson took a razor to English, French, Latin and Greek versions of
the New Testament to construct a clear account of Jesus’ original, uncorrupted
teachings. Pressed by public business, he didn’t complete his painstakingly
executed “Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth” until retirement. Even then,
Jefferson did not want to publicize his project — or even share it with his
family. But he was confident that enlightened republicans and conscientious
Christians could, and must, agree on the fundamental ethical precepts he
gleaned from the Bible.

Far
from being an atheist, Jefferson was a precocious advocate of what was later
called “civil religion,” the moral foundation of a truly free and united
people.